Prophecies, Witches, and Werewolves
by Kitty Saffron
Summary: When a rash of kidnappings hit too close to home for the Halliwells and Oz, can they bring their families and friends together in time to rescue the children?
1. Little Werewolf Lost

DISCLAIMER: We don't own the characters you recognize. We ain't making any money off this. If we were, we sure wouldn't be where we are.  
  
SUMMARY: When a rash of kidnappings hit too close to home for the Halliwells and Oz, can they bring their families and friends together in time to rescue the children?  
  
FEEDBACK: We beg you to leave some tiny tidbit for us. We thrive on it and can create quicker when we have it.  
  
Daniel had gone into the village for supplies just that morning and she was fixing breakfast for Treena when they burst in through the front door. Treena screamed as the men wearing masks filled the little cottage.  
  
"Grab the pup. I'll take care of the bitch." Suddenly two arms grabbed Tasha and pinned her against the wall. Her mind flashed back to the night she had been raped and she began to fight. She fought in a blind panic, knowing only that she had to get free and protect Treena.  
  
"MOMMA!! MOMMA!!!" screamed the four-year-old, trying to get away from the man who was holding her.  
  
"DAMN!! The pup bit me!!" A shot rang out. Tasha screamed as she pictured her daughter laying dead on the floor. She slumped in defeat. Whatever they did to her didn't matter if Treena was dead.  
  
"Moron. He should've remembered to knock her out first. Travis, pick her up."  
  
Tasha watched as another man carried the unconcious body of her daughter out the door. The man holding her laughed. "Don't worry, bitch. The whelp lives. For now. Of course, once our clients get a hold of her."  
  
Tasha fought again, trying to get away from this man and rescue her precious daughter. She never saw the rifle butt heading toward her. Her world went black with a flash of pain.  
  
She woke up and looked around at the mess in her little cottage. 'Treena. Where's Treena?' She tried to jump up from the floor only to fall back, groaning as the room started spinning around her. "Treena? Treena, baby. Mommy's looking for you. Come on out, sweetie."  
  
There was no answer. Tasha called for her daughter yet again. Still no answer. Tasha crawled toward the bedroom hoping that Treena had run in there and fallen asleep. She searched the entire cottage without finding her four-year-old.  
  
The dizziness faded as her fear escalated. Treena was gone. She had failed her daughter as badly as she had failed the pack once upon a time. She had failed Daniel. She stood up and went out into the forest to try to track Treena and the men that took her.  
  
When Daniel got back from the village, it was to find the door to the cottage broken in and a dead body on the floor. He scented the air. There had been a fight. That much he could tell.  
  
"Tasha? Treena?" He looked through the cottage and found nothing.  
  
Emotions started welling up in the young man. Emotions that he hadn't felt in a long time. Anger which built slowly into a rage. Fear which built quickly into terror. "Tasha? Tasha, where are you? Tasha?"  
  
He was about to run off into the woods when the female wolf sprinted out and ran towards him, changing shape as she ran. Tasha threw herself into Daniel's arms sobbing.  
  
"They took her, Daniel! They took her! She's gone! I can't find any trace of them!"  
  
"Who? Who took Treena? Where did they go?" He hadn't seen her face yet. He hadn't seen the helpless terror in her eyes or the fact that one of her beautiful eyes was swollen almost shut. Daniel hooked one finger under Tasha's chin and forced her to look at him.  
  
The sight of the bruise on her face made him raise his face to the sky and howl loudly. When he looked back at her, he felt the rage take hold of him. She saw it building and tried to pull away or at least turn from him.  
  
He saw fear well up in her eyes. Fear of him. Fear of what he would do to her for allowing these men to take Treena. "No. Not you. Never you." He took a deep calming breath and then looked back into her eyes allowing her to see that she would not be the recipient of his anger. That, he resolved, would be reserved for the ones who dared to hurt her in this way.  
  
He wrapped his arms around Tasha and held her quietly for a moment. When he pulled back, he had calmed down for the moment. "Let's search the woods again. Maybe we can find a trace of what kind of vehicle they used to get away."  
  
Tasha smiled and wiped her eyes. That was Daniel. Always thinking. Always trying to find out what was going on. She nodded and they both changed shape in order to cover more ground. He took one side of the woods and she took the other. That way they could both cover a lot more territory.  
  
When the two of them came back together shortly after sundown, Daniel had found signs that they had used a helicopter to leave the area. He had already determined that he would go back to the village and contact Giles in England and Angel in LA. Maybe even Buffy in Rome. He would have Giles call Willow though. He couldn't handle that one right now.  
  
Tasha looked so tired. She knew though, that if she was even able to sleep this night, she would wake up constantly with nightmares of the day. She also knew that they had to clean up the cottage. It wouldn't be good if they found Treena only to bring her back to this mess.  
  
"Helicopter. That's what they used. I'm going to go back to the village tomorrow and call Giles and Angel. Maybe they can help."  
  
"Will I ever see my little girl again?" Tasha was on the verge of tears again. She just wanted Treena back where she could wrap her arms around her and hold her tight.  
  
Daniel wrapped his arms around Tasha and pulled her close. "Of course. If I have to hunt these people to the end of the world and beyond, your daughter will rest in your arms again. I promise." With that, the two of them went into the cottage to clean things up a bit.  
  
Daniel and Tasha sat on the couch in front of the fire. She was holding the sandwich he had made for her. Every bite she took stuck in her throat as she thought of her baby. Was she warm enough? Had they fed her? Was she safe? Why did they take her?  
  
Daniel had his arm around her shoulder and her head was nestled into his shoulder. His head was leaning on hers. That was how the sun found them the next morning.  
  
"Giles?"  
  
"Oz? Good Lord! Is it really you?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"It's been a long time."  
  
"Yeah. Look, a friend's baby was kidnapped. The guys that did it hurt her and left in a helicopter."  
  
"Dear Lord!"  
  
"She's a true breed werewolf. "  
  
"Bloody Hell!"  
  
"Can you find out anything? Maybe have Willow cast a locator spell?"  
  
"Of course. How is the mother holding up?"  
  
"She's strong. We'll find the baby. But for now she's pretty upset."  
  
"And the child's father? Does he know what happened?"  
  
"Yeah. I do."  
  
"At least she has ---" Just then, it sunk in, what Oz had said. "I'm sorry, Oz. I'll do what I can from here. Are you going to call anyone else?"  
  
"I was going to call Angel. Would you call Buffy and Willow and ask them to keep their eyes open?"  
  
"Certainly. Anything else I can do for you?"  
  
"You know the drill better than I do. Anything you can come up with would be a help."  
  
"Of course. How do I get a hold of you?"  
  
"You can leave a message for me to call you. The villagers will make sure I get it."  
  
"Very well. I'll call Buffy and Willow right away."  
  
"Thank you. I've got to go. I'll call Angel and then get back to Tasha." Giles and Oz hung up and Oz quickly dialed the number for the Hyperion Hotel in LA.  
  
"Hello, Angel. I need some help." 


	2. At the Manor

A/N: There are a few things we need to say before this chapter gets under way. First of all, = change of setting = vision ######## = same setting different time  
  
That said, on with the chapter.  
  
Ever since she was a child growing up there, Piper had always loved the Manor, but there were times, like tonight, when she was alone that the sheer size of the house seemed to weigh on her. She sighed as she poured the batter she had just finished mixing into a pan and smoothed it out. Paige was out on a date. Of course, Phoebe was once again staying late at work, fighting with her column to finish it up. She understood Phoebe's problems with the column and wished her sister luck with working through them tonight, but where was Leo? She knew he had other duties to take care of, but that didn't stop her from missing him and wanting him home with their children.  
  
Shaking her head in yet another vain attempt to clear her thoughts, Piper slid the cake into the oven and set the timer. She dusted the flour off from where it had collected on her jeans and washed her hands before heading upstairs. She and the rest of her family had been through so much already in their lives, and there was always some new danger looming around the next corner. She knew that, while she'd never fully get used to that, she'd be more than able to handle whatever came their way as long as she had the two beautiful faces she was about to see waiting for her at home.  
  
Reaching the nursery, Piper looked in first at her youngest. Though he was smiling peacefully in his sleep, pain shot through her heart as she looked down on him and remembered the older version of this child. "Chris . . ." she whispered, keeping her voice low enough that she would not wake the sleeping children. She reached out and stroked his face with tender, trembling fingers. She knew that she would see him again, that she was actually looking at him even now, but she also believed that nothing would ever dull the pain of losing him the first time.  
  
Blinking back tears, Piper moved to the next cradle, and she had to smile at the sight before her. Her firstborn lay sleeping, seemingly just as peaceful as his brother, but Piper's smile vanished as she lay a hand on his forehead. Wyatt was burning up. As soon as his mother realized that, her instincts kicked in. She did not yet wake him, but instead turned and ran, her footsteps falling as silently as if she were hiding from Demons instead of simply trying not to wake her sons, into the bathroom where she started drawing cool water into the bath tub and raced back for Wyatt.  
  
Stroking Wyatt's face, she called softly to him. "Wyatt. Come on, sweetheart," she whispered, trying not to wake Chris. He stirred in his sleep but didn't answer. Piper carried him down to the kitchen where she gave him a dose of Children's Tylenol. It took some doing to get the medicine down him, but once she had, she carried him into the bathroom and shut off the water.  
  
Shutting the door partway with her foot, Piper undressed Wyatt and set him in the tub. She began to wash him gently even while wondering aloud, "Just where is your father, huh?" She no longer wondered simply because she missed him, but because she had a sudden feeling that this was just the beginning and she would soon need her husband.  
  
At the paper, Phoebe Halliwell was sitting at her desk, trying to figure out this week's column. Ever since she had lost her powers, she had been having a hard time with the column. She wasn't sure of what she should write and Elise was not happy. Her past four columns had been late and Elise had told her that if this one wasn't in on time, she could very well lose her job.  
  
Phoebe knew that she couldn't let that happen. She knew that they needed the income from her job as well as the club. She knew that now having four adults and two small children in the house was taxing enough on the budget without her losing her job.  
  
Putting down her pen for the tenth time in the past hour, Phoebe sighed and ran her fingers through her now shoulder-length hair. She was frustrated and she hated that feeling. She thought of how many times she had felt that way when dealing with demons in the past. Before the empathy had come along, she had always had to depend on spellwork and her own martial arts skills to deal with the demons. But that was not always an option. Sometimes the other two girls would have to bail her out using their powers. She had so wanted an active power. Then, it came. The empathy. She had used it to save Piper from becoming an Amazon and to remind her of what she felt for Leo. She had used it to write her column.  
  
Phoebe turned her head and looked at the picture on her desk. It was of her, Piper, Paige, Leo, Chris and Wyatt in front of the Manor. Everyone looked so happy. Leo was back with the family instead of being an Elder. The two boys were happy and healthy. Paige was seeing someone steady. Piper wasn't trying to bottle up her feelings anymore. And Phoebe, well, she wasn't so sure about herself. She was still upset because she had been there when the older Chris had died. She had lost him and, even though his younger self was still here, she knew he wouldn't grow up to be the same young man that had come to them a little over a year ago.  
  
She picked up the picture and focused on her family, hoping that, as usual, it would help her to clear her mind, calm down and get back to work. Instead, she felt a familiar rush and saw a vision for the first time in almost a year.  
  
The nursery. It was the nursery at home. There were the two cribs that Wyatt and Chris slept in. Chris was asleep in his but Wyatt's was empty. 'Where's Wyatt? Why isn't he in his bed?' Suddenly, she spun, feeling an evil presence in the room. Two demons had just shimmered into the room. "Piper! Piper! Leo! Demons! Demons in the nursery! Help!" She tried to fight them, but they apparently couldn't see her. They walked right past her and picked up Chris. They turned around as Piper burst into the room, holding Wyatt. But before her older sister could do anything, they shimmered out with the youngest of the Halliwell line.  
  
"NO!!!" she screamed as she felt her knees go out from underneath her. She didn't hit the floor though. Two hands caught her. She looked up to see her brother-in-law's face looking at her worriedly.  
  
"What's wrong, Phoebe? I heard you call me. What did you mean by demons in the nursery?"  
  
At this point, tears were flowing freely down Phoebe's face. "I had a vision. Demons in the nursery. They took Chris. Piper had Wyatt in the tub. She came back in just as they picked him up and shimmered out. We have to go home. Now."  
  
Leo nodded and put a supporting arm around Phoebe's shoulders to orb them home.  
  
While watching Wyatt in the tub, Piper heard something. It sounded like Phoebe's voice yelling. Something about demons in the nursery. Even though Wyatt's fever was still annoyingly present, Piper pulled him out of the tub and was running up the stairs even as she wrapped Wyatt in a towel.  
  
She burst into the room to see two demons holding Chris. Before she could bring her powers to bear on them, they had shimmered out of the nursery, taking her youngest baby with them.  
  
She just stood for a moment, in total shock. Chris! Chris had been taken! It took a few moments for her to react. She sunk to her knees, tears running silently down her face. Wyatt started crying as his mother held him close to her, her hand stroking his hair as if to reassure herself that he was still there.  
  
Leo and Phoebe orbed in just then. Phoebe looked around. They were too late. Chris was gone. She knelt beside Piper and touched her shoulder. "Piper. Piper, let me see Wyatt. Let me take him. Please."  
  
Piper hesitated for a moment. She wasn't sure at first if it was really Phoebe. After all, after Pru had died, she had heard Pru's voice often, either telling her how badly she had screwed up or how proud she was. She had even seen Pru once or twice. Just a ghost image of course. But it made it a little easier to deal with the pain of Pru's death. But when she felt Phoebe's hand on her shoulder, she knew that Phoebe and Leo were really here. She handed Wyatt to Phoebe and looked at Leo. "He's got a fever. That's why I wasn't in here when they took Chris. I had him in the tub. I swear, I didn't know. I didn't know they'd come after him! I didn't know they'd come after Chris!"  
  
When she started sobbing again, Leo was torn between his older son, finding his younger son and comforting their mother. He decided that he needed to heal Wyatt first. He was curious as to why Piper hadn't called him when she realized that Wyatt had a fever. He would have been there in a heartbeat and then they could have stopped the demons that stole Chris.  
  
Those thoughts wouldn't do any good now. They had to take care of Wyatt and then figure out why these demons had taken his younger son. He stepped over to where Phoebe was holding Wyatt and healed him without a second thought. Then he turned to Piper. He realized that she really was sorry. Kneeling beside her, he took his wife into his arms. She turned into him and continued sobbing, leaning on him as if she had no strength left.  
  
Phoebe turned away, not wanting anyone to see how much she missed having someone take care of her like that. This was about the only thing she missed about Cole. He had always been a strong shoulder to lean on when she felt weak. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number. She bounced Wyatt a little as she waited, trying to keep him calm.  
  
Paige's voice came to her rather breathless. "Yeah?"  
  
"Paige, it's Phoebe. You need to come home now. Chris is gone."  
  
"Gone? Gone? Gone how?"  
  
"Stolen. Kidnapped. Right out of his crib. Demons. Come home now."  
  
"Be there in a moment. This is really bad timing."  
  
"Sorry."  
  
The two girls hung up and about five minutes later, Paige orbed into the bedroom. "What do we do first?"  
  
Piper was still crying in Leo's arms and Phoebe wasn't in the room. She walked in a moment later, carrying the map and scrying crystal. Seeing that their youngest sister was here, she handed Wyatt to Paige and sat down with the map. She picked up one of Chris's smaller toys and tied it to the string holding the scrying crystal. She started scrying for her nephew.  
  
She sat there for almost thirty minutes before putting down the crystal. "Whoever or whatever has him is blocking the scrying. I can't find him." 


	3. A Cold Night in LA

Many miles away, a typical patrol had turned bad as four beings ran for their very lives with a rampaging beast hot on their trail. A dragon, wolf and lioness dashed into an alley, but the woman who followed them turned to look back at the Werewolf chasing them. "I hate to do this," she informed it, spreading her hands apart in front of her as she concentrated, "but you leave me with no choice!"

Ice blue eyes narrowed as the blonde concentrated, her gaze focused solely on the Werewolf. Its howl fell on deaf ears for she heard nothing, not even her own breathing as she focused and reached out to him. The Werewolf stopped in its tracks and gave a growl of confusion as it shivered. The blonde lowered her hands slowly, and as they dropped, so did the Werewolf's body temperature. When her hands fell to her sides, the Werewolf hit the pavement, instantly unconcious but unhurt.

The blonde let out the breath that she had not even realized she'd been holding as she slipped from the alley. The wolf, lioness, and dragon who had run with her now took up position at her sides again. The heels of her boots echoed around her as she walked up to the Werewolf. She stooped down beside it even as its think fur disappeared, revealing the white skin of a human male.

She sighed and shook her head. "You didn't know what you were doing. We can't just leave you here." But where could she take him?

Before she could fully contemplate that question, a gruff voice shattered her thoughts. "You'll be taking him nowhere, miss. I don't know how you did it and I suppose I should thank you, but I didn't need your help. Now step away from the beast."

"Elvira, Cindy, Blue," the blonde's lips did not even appear to part as she whispered to the animals that accompanied her, "stay still but try to get behind me when he's not looking." It was a steely gaze that met the hunter's as she stood while announcing firmly, "I'm not going anywhere. You won't have his pelt."

"I'm not after his pelt," the man returned though he kept his rifle trained on the Werewolf. "I'm just going to make sure that he doesn't hurt anybody."

"He hasn't hurt anyone -- at least," she amended, not knowing if that was the truth or not, "not knowingly."

"If he hasn't, then he will. It doesn't matter if what's left of his human mind is aware of it or not."

The blonde's unblinking eyes never moved from the hunter's as she stood her ground. "I'm not letting you kill him."

"What are you?" the hunter questioned, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. "Some kind of monster lover?"

"You might say that," she returned with just a tinge of a flippant edge, "but I'm not moving." She could see both the wolf and the lioness edging behind her, but her eyes did not even flicker. She kept her gaze firmly on the hunter, but their movements still caught his attention.

"No wonder you're being such a stupid bitch! You've got one of the beasts!" he exclaimed. Before she could stop him, the man had taken aim and fired. The bullet sped toward Elvira. The blonde moved to knock the wolf out of the way but was not in time to keep her from being hit. The bullet dug deep into the wolf's hind leg, breaking past both fur and skin to embed in bone.

Elvira howled, and her mistress screamed in horror that one of her babies had been hit. The lioness growled and began to run at the hunter as the dragon screeched as he flew into the air and soared for the hunter, belching out a great gust of fire as he did. The hunter ducked and rolled out of the fireball's way, firing off a shot at the great cat charging him. She barely avoided the bullet and continued on. Blue went in for another attack, but even as he let loose another fireball, a net dropped down, seemingly from nowhere. The dragon screeched again, this time in panic, and all heads swung to see him being lifted further into the air. He tore at the net with his talons, but it wouldn't rip. It didn't even burn when he loosed another fireball. He cried out again, screaming for the blonde who called his name desperately from where she looked up at him from the ground.

"BLUE!!!!!!!" Through her tears, the blonde could barely make out the form of the helicopter that lifted him into the air. Her hands shot up into the air; she was about to try freezing and breaking the net to release her precious baby when yet another shot rang out. This time, the bullet hit her, blasting into her right shoulder with enough force to throw her back to the ground. Elvira's body broke her fall, and the wolf's whimper as she fell on her tore even more at her broken heart.

Ignoring the pain that flamed through her shoulder, the young woman flipped back to her feet. Her fury had ended her tears and drastically dropped the temperature around them to a freezing level. "You're with them, aren't you?" she hissed through clenched teeth. She did not give him the chance to answer her question (not that she needed him to) as she turned him to ice on the spot. Hot tears once again sped down icy cheeks. This man had shot her Elvira and helped someone else to take Blue away, most likely to his death if she couldn't find a way to stop them. She could barely think past the grief that clouded her judgment and filled her heart. She didn't even flinch as she clenched and unclenched her hands, sending the man shattering into a thousand bits of ice that flew all over.

She sobbed aloud as the realization of what she had done hit her immediately. Elvira's whimper of pain brought her back to what needed to be done. She turned and knelt beside her beloved wolf. Bending over her, she placed the crystal she wore around her neck to Elvira's wound. The blue crystal, in the shape of an intricately-carved snowflake, began to glow the moment it touched the wolf. Even as it healed Elvira's horrible wound, the blonde called out, "Jack! Jack, I need you!"

Even though it only took seconds for the crystal to remove the bullet and repair the grisly damage, as it completed its task, a cold wind whistled through. What appeared to be a young boy, his entire body and outfit the same icy blue as the blonde's eyes, appeared in front of her. His eyes took in the scene, widening in shock. The tremor in his voice was noticeable as he spoke, "Crys, what happened?

"I don't know, Jack. I just don't know." She shook her head fiercely from side to side. "One minute we were dealing a little Werewolf situation. The next, a hunter showed up and shot Elvira. Jack, he SHOT her! Then he helped them take Blue!"

"Who? Who took Blue?" Jack asked her. He wanted to gather her into his arms and comfort her but had already guessed that he didn't have the time for that.

"I don't know!" Crys sobbed. "I don't know! They just showed up in a helicopter that didn't make any noise and threw a net over him! He tried to get free but the net wouldn't burn or tear!"

"What about your ice?" Jack started to ask but then stopped as his eyes fell on his cousin's shoulder and the blood seeping through there.

"I didn't exactly --"

"Crys, you're bleeding!"

"Fuck that!" she snapped, her ice blue eyes blazing. Jack looked at her in shock for, in all her years, he had never known Crystal to use such language. "We don't have the time, Jack, and my blasted shoulder can wait! I need you to go after Blue and find out who they are and where they're taking him!"

"Only if you heal yourself --" he started only to be cut off.

"When it recharges, I will." Jack didn't need to ask why the crystal needed to recharge. He already knew. She had used it to contact him in Switzerland and to heal Elvira with not one single thought for herself. He nodded, flew up into the air and disappeared.

Jack tried to follow Blue, but as he reached out with his powers, he could not find the little dragon anywhere. After trying for a good half hour, he finally reappeared -- in the same exact spot he had disappeared from. "Cuz, you're not going to like this," he started.

"What?" she snapped, her brow already creased in worry and fear already laced tightly around her heart.

"I can't find him. Something's blocking me out completely."

"Damn!" Crystal exclaimed.

"I'm sorry." She nodded in understanding and knew that she didn't have to tell him that she didn't blame him. He already knew. "You know, Crys, just because I can't find him doesn't mean somebody else can't. That sounds like some pretty unique aircraft and --"

She cut him off again. The glare she shot at him cut straight through. "Don't go there."

"What? The aircraft?" he asked innocently.

"Jack, you know damn well that's not what I'm talking about."

He nodded and was silent for just one brief moment before speaking again. "But, Crys, it's Blue. I can't find him. And if I can't, you can't."

Crystal sighed. As much as she hated it, she knew he was right. She had to contact her brother. She had to do what she had sworn never to do again. Endanger Angel. "I'm going to get him killed yet," she muttered.

Jack opened his mouth as if to say something else but thought better of it. "I'll keep trying, and I'll alert Big Red. If I can find out anything, I'll be at your side faster than the North Wind can Blow."

The metaphor that normally brought a laugh from Crystal for what it symbolized to the two of them didn't even draw a smile this time. She only nodded to Jack before looking back to Elvira. "Are you ready?" The wolf nodded as she got to her feet at Crystal's left side. Glancing to the right, Crys found Cindy already looking up at her. The big cat rumbled reassuringly to her as she rubbed against her right leg. Crystal knew that Cindy was trying to reassure her but, for the first time in all the time she had known the cat, it didn't help at all. A disc of ice grew underneath them, and soon they were soaring through Los Angeles on the disc.

A/N: That's it for now. Both of us have lost our inspiration for this story. If we had more feedback, it might change. But until we get it back together, this is it.


End file.
